Find Out What Pay to Expect for Your First Graduate Job

While new Australian university graduates are finding it more difficult than last year to find work, their long term prospects are looking strong.

In 2013, 71.3% of graduates found full-time employment within 4 months of finishing up their degree. In 2014 this figure dropped to 68.1%.

The GFC, the end of the mining boom, off-shoring, automation, the move towards casual work and globalisation leading to an influx of overseas workers has all contributed to the current situation.

“It is clear that the labour market for new graduates has yet to fully recover from the downturn experienced in late 2008 following the global financial crisis. It is perhaps not surprising that local recruiters are adopting a prudent ongoing hiring stance that sees new graduates taking longer than usual to find employment”, says Graduate Careers.

But, it looks like over the long-term conditions are improving. In May 2014, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, only 3.2% of Bachelor graduates were out of work in 2014, in comparison to 3.4% in 2013

Bachelor Degree Median Starting Salaries for Under 25’s in First Full-Time Work

The median starting salary across the board in 2014 remained relatively unchanged for under 25’s in full-time employment for their first time, sitting at $52,500.

Ranked #3 in 2014 (same spot as 2013), Engineering enjoyed a median salary of $62,000 in 2014. There were a total of 1048 engineering graduates in 2014.

Ranked #4 in 2014 (same as in 2013) Earth Sciences had a median salary of $60,000 in 2014. It only saw 71 graduates in 2014 total.

Law comes in at rank #12 for 2014 (sitting at rank 7 in 2013), with a median salary of $53,000 for 2014. Law graduates numbered 291 in total in 2014.

Accounting sits in spot #14 (in 2013 it sat in spot #12) budding accountants enjoyed a salary of $50,000 in 2014. A total of 730 students graduated accounting in 2014.